Auckland’s Anniversary Day Regatta is held every year on the Monday closest to January 29, the legacy of an impromptu “regatta” between the whaleboats and gigs of Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson’s retinue on the day the city was founded, September 18, 1840. Since 1850, it has been cancelled on only one occasion, and has taken a place at the core of Auckland’s sporting culture.

Thousands of young New Zealanders have been tested by the indiscriminate justice of the elements on board the Spirit of New Zealand. Gareth Cooke braces himself against one of the worst storms of the decade to record the voyage of 40 young trainees on the greatest test of their lives.